VOICEYE vs Bear
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
VOICEYE
This app allows visually impaired individuals to access printed information by scanning a special code with their smartphone camera. It converts text from printed materials into digital format, offering various display modes and text-to-speech functionality.
- Scan VOICEYE codes with smartphone camera
- Convert printed text to digital format
- Text-to-Speech (TTS) with highlighting
- Multiple high-contrast viewing modes
- Adjustable font sizes and zoom levels
- Magnifier function for camera and gallery images
Read full descriptionHide full description
The new way to access printed information for print and visually impaired! VOICEYE is the smartphone application enabling those with print impairments to access printed information using a VOICEYE code on the printed material. Information regarding the VOICEYE code on the printed material: •VOICEYE can hold as much as two A4 pages of text on a 2.5 square centimeter code. •There’s no need for a data or internet connection to decode a VOICEYE code, as the code itself stores the data. •The VOICEYE App will use the phone camera to automatically scan the code and bring all of the text into the phone. Just imagine! You can access any printed information that is around you with your own smartphone. All education materials, all government materials, all books, notice boards in museums or libraries, in fact just about anything, once a document is produced with a VOICEYE code, any material becomes accessible and is accurately identified. In South Korea, the VOICEYE solution has been successfully applied to schools for the blind, universities with special education, publishing companies, state-run corporations, local newspapers and others. The VOICEYE solution is very popular for Dyslexia and the visually impaired. The Korean government has adopted the VOICEYE solution on its official documents, such as social security information, electricity, water, local tax bills and so on. VOICEYE App: Make your dreams come true with a VOICEYE code. Scan a VOICEYE code at the top right corner of the printed material. You then have access to the book you buy, the textbook you study, utility bills and prescriptions, it will then be opened automatically on your smartphone and the text can be read aloud with TTS (Text-to-Speech) software like on the iPhone or iPad (voiceover), or with TALKS or Mobile Speaks. The VOICEYE code is created by the VOICEYE Maker Add-In, which you add into MS-Word, Quark Xpress and Adobe InDesign programs. Quark Xpress and InDesign are programs for publishers. [Main Features] 1. Access to printed information - Scan a VOICEYE code at the top right corner of a page. - Text can be displayed on your smartphone screen in 5 high contrast text viewing modes (colored text) and read out the text with TTS like VoiceOver. - 10 zoom levels in font size - VOICEYE SmartPhone Stand a. This is the aid for visually impaired people so they can find and read VOICEYE code with smartphone. b. Put the smartphone on the smartphone stand and scan VOICEYE code at the top right corner of printed materials. It will be very easy and fast. 2. Magnifier - Provides 6 zoom levels - 5 high contrast viewing modes to maximize text readability - Magnifying various sources using camera or gallery 3. Text-to-Speech with Highlighting - In TTS mode, you will simultaneously hear the words and see them highlighted.
Bear
A beautiful and simple Markdown app for capturing, writing, and organizing your thoughts and ideas. It offers a distraction-free writing environment, flexible formatting, and powerful organizational tools like tags and tasks. Ideal for anyone looking to streamline their note-taking and creative processes.
- Distraction-free writing environment
- Flexible Markdown formatting
- Tag-based organization
- Task management
- Note linking (WikiLinks)
- Web clipping extension
- Apple Pencil sketching
Read full descriptionHide full description
Bear is a beautiful, powerfully simple Markdown app to capture, write, and organize your life. Take notes, plan your day, journal thoughts, organize tables, create lists and tasks, sketch ideas, link notes together, write a book, and much more. Bear is used by writers, lawyers, chefs, CEOs, teachers, doctors, engineers, students, parents.. you get the picture. Getting started couldn’t be faster—no signup and no account. Just open a note and write naturally. "My journaling app of choice is Bear" - Kit Eaton, New York Times * 2017 Apple Design Award * 2016 App Store App of the Year * Editors' choice for 7 consecutive years * Most of our parents love it ## BEAUTIFUL. SIMPLE. POWERFUL. PRIVATE - Tools stay out of your way so you can just write - Sketch ideas on iPad with an extendable canvas and Apple Pencil (and other styli) - Clip web pages and other content with Bear’s app extension - The redesigned Info Panel now with Table of Contents and Backlinks - Use Apple Watch to dictate and append to recent notes - Support for all the scripts including RTL languages like Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian - Easily create notes with Siri and Shortcuts - Your notes, not ours - Bear is private at its core: We cannot see your notes, tags, or anything else ## FLEXIBLE MARKDOWN - Work in plain text - easy to move between apps - Still use formatting like bold, italics, strikethrough, links, tables, and more with Markdown - Combine text styles like bold and underline, even in headings - Markdown hides for a clean reading experience - Use WikiLinks to connect notes and build a personal wiki or knowledge management tool ## GET ORGANIZED with #tags, tasks, and more - Add #tags, #multi-word tags# and even #multiple/nested/tags anywhere in a note for quick organization - Pin important tags to the top of the Sidebar - Make important tags stand out in the Sidebar with TagCons - Add tasks to notes and easily view all notes that include tasks - Fold sections to get them out of the way ## SHARING MADE EASY - Export notes to plain text, Markdown, TextBundle, Bear note, and rich text - Export notes to HTML, DocX, PDF, JPG, and ePub (Bear Pro required) - Easily share your notes to any third-party app with the Share Sheet ## SEARCH FAR AND WIDE - Use Spotlight to search your notes from anywhere - Search for text inside photos and PDFs (Bear Pro required) - Focus on specific types of notes with powerful Special Searches like @todo, @images, and @yesterday ## CREATE YOUR COZY SPACE * Pick from nearly 30 themes for the perfect writing space in both Light and Dark Mode (Bear Pro required) * Choose an app icon that speaks to your personality (Bear Pro required) * Set your own fonts for plain text, headings, and code * Set line height and width, paragraph spacing, and more ## GET MORE WITH BEAR PRO One subscription enables a variety of features on all your devices and keeps the Bear hugs coming. - Sync notes between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac via iCloud - Encrypt individual notes with a password that is entirely private to you - Lock Bear with Face/Touch ID - Export to more formats including HTML, DocX, PDF, JPG, and ePub - Search for text inside images and PDFs in Bear notes - Over 30 beautiful app themes & app icons $2.99 monthly $29.99 yearly 14-day free trial ----- Price may vary by location. Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your App Store account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You will not be able to cancel the subscription once activated. After purchase, manage your subscriptions in App Store Account Settings. Any unused portion of a free trial period will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription. ----- bear@shinyfrog.net Twitter: BearNotesApp Reddit: reddit.com/r/BearApp Facebook: BearNotes Instagram: BearNotesApp Privacy Policy: http://www.bear.app/privacy/ Terms of Service: http://www.bear.app/terms/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Bear at 77% against VOICEYE's 33%. Bear also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.0) and update cadence (every 9 days vs every 2 months). VOICEYE's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (12 vs 15.6). On price and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Bear sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. VOICEYE asks for nothing beyond the download.
Bear holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Bear has 6.9K ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 33% of VOICEYE's written reviews are positive against 77% of Bear's.
VOICEYE ships an update every 2 months, Bear every 9 days. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | VOICEYE | Bear |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.0 (2 ratings) | 4.7 (6.9K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 33.3% of reviews | 76.8% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 6.9K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 9 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch — better |
| Requires iOS | 12 — better | 15.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 81 MB | 230 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | voiceye,inc | Shiny Frog Ltd. |
Customer experience
VOICEYE
Bear
Bugs and requests
VOICEYE
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Bear
Reported bugs
3 issues- Sync issues causing note conflicts and data loss
- Cursor jumping and input issues on iPad
- Inconsistent behavior when importing/exporting content
Requested features
5 requests- Add password protection for individual notes
- Improve search capabilities to find text within notes
- Implement table support for more robust note-taking
- Develop a web-based version for broader accessibility
- Allow manual sorting and organization of notes
In-app purchases
VOICEYE
No in-app purchases
Bear
- Monthly Pro subscription7 Days trial$2.991 Month
- Yearly Pro subscription7 Days trial$29.991 Year









